The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

After learning Heifu's identity, Yan Zheng no longer treated him as an ordinary official. He became more enthusiastic and asked his servant to welcome the two brothers into the study and gave each of them a mat. Then, with the help of his servants, he stood up and looked for books on the bookshelves on three walls with squinted eyes.

After a while, he placed six bamboo scrolls covered with cloth on the low-legged table, stroked his beard and said:

"Although Qin's laws are numerous, as a pavilion chief, his main responsibility is to maintain road safety and arrest thieves, so he must be familiar with the six chapters of "Theft Law", "Thief Law", "Arrest Law", "Prisoner Law", "Miscellaneous Law" and "Detailed Law", which are these six volumes."

Heifu followed his words and picked them up one by one. They were indeed these six laws.

Yan Zheng's speech became slower: "Among these six chapters, the most urgent policy for a king is to deal with thieves and robbers, so the law begins with "Thieves" and "Thieves". Thieves and robbers must be impeached and arrested, so there are two chapters, "Prisoners" and "Arrests". The "Miscellaneous Laws" are about frivolous and cunning, crossing the city, gambling, borrowing, dishonesty, debauchery, and exceeding the rules, and the "Detailed Laws" are used to add and subtract them."

After a long explanation, Hei Fu probably understood that these six laws and decrees were the basis of Qin law, covering all common crimes and their punishment methods, and they were also things that the head of the pavilion had to memorize.

"Mr. Yan really knows the laws by heart..."

Hei Fu complimented Yan Zheng and asked, "Are these six laws the latest?"

Yan Zheng stroked his beard and smiled, "Of course, they were all copied in the first month (October) of last year."

It turns out that in the Qin State, the laws were not unchanged for a hundred years. Shang Yang clearly said that the world is not governed by the same way, and the country does not need to follow the old laws! Therefore, the Qin laws would be supplemented every few years.

But in this case, the problem arises again. The laws are often changed, but there is no modern means of dissemination, and the laws can only be copied manually. The terms of these laws are extremely concise, and sometimes the meaning will be very different if a word is copied wrong. Moreover, if the laws have changed, but the people below do not know and are still using the old laws, conflicts will arise, wouldn't it be bad?

In order to avoid this situation, from the beginning of Shang Yang's reform, a "judge" was specially set up to keep and check the laws, as well as provide legal advice. Xianyang has three judges, one each in the court, the Censorate, and the Prime Minister's Office. There is also one judge in each county, and Xi once worked as a county judge for a period of time. Of course, Yan Zheng in front of him has a longer qualification.

Every year, the laws and decrees that are changed in Xianyang must be stored in the "forbidden room". The door is usually locked and no one is allowed to enter or leave. All the laws and decrees are sealed up. If someone enters or deletes a word without authorization, he will be sentenced to death.

The forbidden room is only opened once a year in October. At that time, the Censorate will summon judges from all over the country to check the legal provisions and return to the local area with the changed new laws and decrees to convey the central spirit to governments at all levels...

Although Yan Zheng retired at an old age, he can still get the latest laws and decrees every year because he has also been a teacher in the school, and his students will inform him of the latest situation.

These Qin officials have been dealing with laws for a lifetime, and in the end, laws have become a part of their lives. Even after he retired, people in the village would often come to consult him, which was why Yan Zheng had a high reputation in the local area.

At this point, Yan Zheng seemed to remember something again. He was too lazy to get up, and pointed Hei Fu to the bookshelf and took down the two bamboo slips placed at the highest point.

Hei Fu took it in his hand and saw that it said "transmitting food" and "running script". What does this have to do with the head of the pavilion?

Yan Zheng explained: "As a head of the pavilion, you can't just arrest thieves. There are often guesthouses and post offices in the pavilion, so you must learn the "Transmitting Food Law" and "Running Script Law."

The so-called "Transmitting Food Law" is aimed at guesthouses, and the legal provisions for providing meals according to the status and title of past officials. Hei Fu had stayed in a guesthouse before, so he understood it.

As for the "Running Script Law", it is mainly the provisions of the Qin State on the transmission of documents.

You know, the postal system of Qin was already quite powerful. In addition to the government documents that must be delivered on time, ordinary soldiers thousands of miles away, who bothered the clerks to write letters, could actually send them to their homes accurately! The family could also hand over clothes and money to the Qin postman and send them to the front line along the same route. This was more than 200 years before Christ. It was really terrifying to think about it.

And the Huyang Pavilion that Heifu was going to was just a big pavilion with both guest houses and post stations. It was possible that the chief clerk would test him on these things.

"It's still Mr. Yan who thought about it for me..."

Heifu hurriedly bowed to Yan Zheng, and then, he said something about teaching tirelessly, being highly respected, and being gentle and caring, which made Yan Zheng very happy. Suddenly, he felt that there was a reason why this young man was recruited to be a pavilion chief at the age of 18, and the compliments touched his heart.

He waved his hand cheerfully and said, "You said you can read and write, that's great, and copy down these eight volumes of laws and decrees from me, then take them back and recite them fluently. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the plaque."

"If I can pass the assessment and become a pavilion chief, I will never forget Mr. Yan. I will definitely tell everyone in the county that Mr. Yan in the plaque is my mentor..." As he said this, Heifu bowed to Yan Zheng, and Yan Zheng also responded with a smile.

The teacher-student relationship in Qin was far less important than in later generations, but they were all sensible people. Since everyone had their own needs and could benefit from this matter, why not do it?

...

After Heifu presented his salary and paid homage to his teacher, Yan Zheng felt a little tired. He yawned and said he wanted to take a nap, so he asked Shu Ren to take Heifu and his brother to a guest room next door.

After seeing the master and Heifu chatting and laughing, the servant actually accepted this student and immediately changed his attitude towards them. Not only did he put on a smiling face throughout the whole process, he also took the initiative to find a pen, ink, and a knife for Heifu, and asked Heifu if he needed bamboo slips.

"How can I do that..." Heifu declined: "I have prepared the bamboo slips myself, how dare I pollute the good bamboo slips of Yanzhang's house.

The servant then retreated and left the door ajar.

At this time, Jing, who had been silent throughout the whole process, covered his stomach and laughed out loud: "Brother Zhong, look at the face of the servant, what a mean person!"

"Do you remember it?" Heifu took out the wooden slips that his sister-in-law helped him to cut from the bamboo basket he brought and spread them on the table.

"Remember what?" Jing looked confused.

"Remember this person's arrogance at first and then his respect, remember the change in Yanzhang's attitude towards me, and then think about why this happened? "After Heifu asked Jing this question, he picked up the brush beside him.

Some people say that the brush was invented by Meng Tian, but it turns out that this is just a rumor. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius had already "written with a brush and sharpened with a knife". In this era, the use of brushes is more common.

As for ink, there is no ink that can be dissolved by dipping in water in this era, but some natural minerals with considerable hardness, which need to be crushed with a grinding stone on the inkstone made of clam shells, tiles or stones, and then add some water before writing.

Heifu asked Jing to come over to help him grind the ink, and then he began to copy the "Law of Theft" on the wooden slips that were neither rough nor completely smooth, stroke by stroke... Each volume actually has only 20 to 30 bamboo slips, which are concise and not many words, but the writing speed is really not fast. Sometimes when you encounter a word that you can't write, it will be even slower. If you copy it wrong, you have to use a knife to scrape it off. At this speed, he can copy four volumes at most until the sun sets today.

While his brother was copying the laws, Jing was grinding ink and tilting his head, thinking about his brother's question. Before he could think for a while, he heard a whisper outside.

"I just want to see who the new disciple is that Grandpa has accepted."

Then, the half-closed door suddenly opened a crack...

A girl with a bun poked her head in and looked at the two people in the room curiously. Although she was not very beautiful, she had fair skin, clean hair, neat teeth, and wore a two-color skirt, which was very different from the village girls in thorn hairpins and cloth skirts that Jing usually saw.

Hei Fu was concentrating on copying the boring bamboo slips and didn't care at all.

Jing raised his head and looked at the girl, stunned...

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